American Medical Student Association

In the 1980’s, the Harvard Medical Practice Study found that 4% of hospitalized patients were injured and that two-thirds of those injuries were preventable. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine issued a report, To Err Is Human, which found that there were between 44,000 and 98,000 preventable deaths in the U.S. each year. Since these findings, health care has gone through major changes.

With these changes, patient safety problems have become increasingly evident. According to the white paper, Unmet Needs, published by the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation, medical education and training institutions have found themselves struggling to keep up with the need to assure that student physicians are properly equipped with the skills, attitudes, knowledge and behaviors (i.e., patient safety competencies) that will make them capable of becoming part of the patient safety solution.

The Patient Safety and Quality Symposium offered by the American Medical Student Association, in partnership with the National Patient Safety Foundation with funding support through AHRQ, and being held September 7-8 at Jefferson School of Population Health, will address the critical steps needed to successfully position students and the institutions they attend to function safely and effectively in health care delivery. View the tentative schedule here.